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Bible Dictionaries
Following
Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words
or 'Achêr (אַחֵר, Strong's #312), “following; different; other.” This word occurs about 166 times and in all periods of biblical Hebrew.
The first meaning of this word is temporal, and is seen in Gen. 17:21: “But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year” (i.e., the year “following”). The first biblical occurrence of the word is in Gen. 4:25: “And Adam [had relations with] his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel.…”
This meaning of “different” or “another” also appears in Lev. 27:20: “And if he will not redeem the field, or if he have sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more.” In Isa. 28:11, 'achêr defines tongue or language; hence it should be understood as “foreign”: " For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.” Since this verse is quoted in 1 Cor. 14:21 as an Old Testament prophecy of tongues-speaking, 'achêr figures prominently in the debate on that subject.
Finally, 'achêr can mean “other.” In this usage, the word distinguishes one thing from another without emphasizing any contrast. This is its meaning in Exod. 20:3: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
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Vines, W. E., M. A. Entry for 'Following'. Vine's Expository Dictionary of OT Words. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/vot/f/following.html. 1940.
